1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to network management, and more specifically to a method and apparatus for hierarchical management of objects in a networking environment.
2. Related Art
A networking environment generally contains devices such as computer systems, servers, etc., which may be connected by a network. Networks in turn contain devices such as routers, bridges and access servers. There has been felt a general need to enable a network administrator to manage (e.g., monitor, configure) such devices (“network elements”).
Network management protocols have accordingly been defined which enable a network administrator to manage network elements from a network management station (NMS). Typical network protocols enable different entities (e.g., interfaces, routing tables) within each network element to be managed from a NMS, and the entities are generally referred to as managed objects.
Typical management transactions from a NMS entail sending a request to a managed object (network element), and generally receiving a response. Simple network management protocol (SNMP) is an example of a network management protocol which is implemented according to such an approach. Thus, it may be desirable for a NMS to send requests directly to a managed object (or a network element containing the object), and for the object to send back a response.
Unfortunately, such a communication may not be always possible due to various reasons (e.g., the NMS and the agent may be operating with different versions of SNMP). Accordingly, devices known as proxy forwarders have been proposed which forward requests received from a NMS to the corresponding device (intended recipient), and then forward a resulting response received from the device to the NMS. Proxy forwarders are described in further detail in RFC 2573, available at www.ietf.org, and is incorporated in its entirety herewith into the present application.
In general, it is desirable that a NMS be able to manage many devices in a networking environment.